A PERSONAL COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
My new book, “the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club: Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War” will be released tomorrow. You can pre-order today at Amazon and get one tomorrow.
This book differs from all others on the topic, because it is the first to put both air forces - US and North Vietnamese - in the same sky at the same time, with named individuals in the cockpits. Through the help of the US Naval Aviators who gave the book their support with interviews and other material, I was put in touch with Dr. Nguyen Sy Hung, Historian of the Vietnam People’s Air Force, who gave me an English translation of “Historic Confrontations,” the official history of the VPAF, which US pilots who have read it say is more accurate than official US history. I was also put in touch with retired Senior Colonel Tu De of the VPAF, the last living participant in the air attack on USS Higbee and the North Vietnamese attack on Tan Son Nhut airport on April 28, 1975 - which has wrongly been attributed to “traitors” of the VNAF for 46 years - who gave me a series of interviews about his experiences, which have never appeared anywhere in the West before. Finally, I was put in touch with retired Lt. General Nguyen Phat Phi, the opponent of Roy Cash, Jr. (Johnny Cash’s nephew and co-writer of “I Still Miss Someone”) in 1968, who retired after 40 years as Deputy Commander of the Vietnam People’s Air Force, who gave me in-depth background interviews on the operations of the air force. None of this material has appeared before in the West.
Additionally, all the first-hand accounts by US fliers are new in history.
As is usual with my books, the story goes from cockpits to the Pentagon and the White House situation room and back again, to put the war in context.
Most important to me personally, I was finally able to tell the full, accurate story of the Tonkin Gulf Incident, the event that started the war and totally changed my life when I first learned a month later that it had not happened as officially told, when I was a member of the command staff in charge of the destroyers that night.
I look forward to hearing what my audience here thinks of it once you’ve had the chance to read it.
https://www.amazon.com/Tonkin-Gulf-Yacht-Club-Aviation/dp/1472845951/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=thomas+mckelvey+cleaver&qid=1633971925&s=books&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFKOFdJUERXWVcxUEQmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAyNTEwOTgzUUlPRTNHT1BHTzhCJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAyNzA2MTJZSUZaUlRHVFEzWTImd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
I vaguely recall, as a young spear carrier in training at Pendleton, in late 1964, having seen a ground support demo of the F4. A distant spec, quickly resolving into an airplane, an amazingly large ball of fire, followed in a split second by that airplane disappearing straight up into the sky. Holy S***!!!
Interesting how the American fliers have developed ties to their former foes sufficient to recommend sources in Vietnam for historians. Not entirely unexpected given the nation airline is good Boeing customer.